


Our Life Expectancy is Eternally Short

by HeyRachelViolet



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: BAMF Carlos, BAMF Evie (Disney), BAMF Jay (Disney), BAMF Mal (Disney), Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Child Abuse, Core Four, Could Be Canon, Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil as Found Family, Fluff and Angst, Gangs, Gen, Harm to Children, Hurt Carlos de Vil, Hurt Evie (Disney), Hurt Jay (Disney), Hurt Mal (Disney), I reject your canon and insert my own, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Canon, Tattoos, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death, accidentally, but it doesn't stick, could be read as slash, eq isn't great either, jafar is terrible, lots of death, maleficent might actually be the least bad?, so is cruella
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24412867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyRachelViolet/pseuds/HeyRachelViolet
Summary: A series of Pre-Canon Mini Sagas (exactly 50 word stories). Two for every letter of the alphabet.
Relationships: Evie & Carlos de Vil, Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil, Evie & Jay (Disney), Evie & Mal (Disney), Jay & Carlos De Vil, Jay & Mal (Disney), Mal & Carlos de Vil
Comments: 110
Kudos: 109





	1. Apothecary : Apple

Everything in the Isle apothecarys is useless without magic, but Evie finds them quaint and enchanting and no one cares if Jay slips fancy, worthless knickknacks from the shelves and Cruella doesn’t like anything to do with magic and Mal… likes seeing her crew at ease. So they come back.

:::

Evie likes apples. She doesn’t tell her mother this. The Evil Queen believes apples are tools: a girl would be silly to think of them as pretty or, Hades forbid, tasty. And a princess would be a fool should she think of eating one. But Evie thinks they taste sweet.


	2. Beg : Bitter

Mal likes seeing innocent people suffer. Relishes in hearing them beg. Carlos is staying in the warehouse -- one of the few times she’s there but Jay and Evie aren’t. She can hear him. He’s crying out, pleading with Cruella. Mal hates it. She tells herself it’s because Carlos isn’t innocent.

::: 

There’s a man crying on the ground. He probably did something. Jay doesn’t ask. Mal’s knuckles are raw. She’s too pale. One of her hands is trembling. She stands rigid, brittle. Jay tells her she did well. She says “Of course I did.” They pretend the words don’t taste bitter.


	3. Claim : Clasp

It’s the scar on Jay’s lip from the first time they met and she punched him. The dragon tattoo over raised lines of old injuries on Carlos’s back. The kiss she presses to Evie’s cheek in the marketplace. These things that declare, “I have claimed them. Mistreat if you dare.”

:::

Jay owned a single piece of Jewelry: a quasi - silver necklace. No pendant, just a thin chain and a clasp beneath his shirt. Evie found it. Carlos fixed it. Mal made sure he knew it was not Jafar’s. Jay tended to press the clasp between his fingers whenever… well, whenever.


	4. Detangled : Dislocated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I forgot to mention on previous chapters, but if you see anything you would like me to explore farther or a scene you think should be it's own story or anything else, let me know. I happily take prompts and suggestions.

Mal let Evie brush her hair, the ornate tool of cheap plastic pulling matted knots apart into coarse waves with gentle movements. She closed her eyes against a patched and leaky ceiling, focusing on the press of Evie’s legs against her back, breathing easier with every detangled strand of hair.

:::

“Fields of Asphodel and Pits of Tartarus!” Jay screamed through clenched teeth. Mal allowed him to curl around his previously dislocated shoulder, muscles and tendons in his neck still straining. Mal didn’t apologize. Just brushed a hand over his hair and denied herself a prayer for the pain to pass.


	5. Elation : Electricity

They’re running - leaping - flying over chasms between buildings, defying hungry darkness of alleyways yawning beneath swift feet. Mal’s shoe slides on the ledge of the next roof. She knows Jay will catch her before his hand wraps around her wrist. She doesn’t understand happiness. That’s fine. This elation is better.

:::

There is no electricity among the Lost: all the generators are broken. Carlos collects wires, gears, little bits of metal to experiment with. Sometimes he burns his fingers. Sometimes he starts fires. Jay doesn't understand what he’s doing, but there’s a cobbled together string of lights attached. They flicker on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next up~ Flirt : Frames
> 
> Help. I need words for N, O, U, V, and X  
> Any ideas?


	6. Flirt : Frames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who have read my other Descendants story We Take our Vengeance, Frames references/specifies what Mal and Uma do to Ruth.

Evie’s mother taught her to flirt, not wield a knife. Seduce a prince, not kill with a poisoned kiss. Her mother is lost in a fantasy where she’s still a queen, Evie was born a princess, and titles mean something. But Evie was born on the Isle, and she survives.

:::

There are three wooden frames suspended over town square, hung by lines that reach from roof to roof, bodies stretched across them like macabre angels, their blood staining dull cobblestones. The Lost do not clean it away. The Bloody Angels are a warning: the children are not to be touched.


	7. Grime : Grudges

It was everywhere -- splinters, fur, dust so thick it was dirt -- covering Carlos from the floors of Hell Hall and his escape. A year ago he wouldn’t have tried it. There hadn’t been a blue haired girl with a plastic not - smile gently cleaning the grime from his skin, then.

:::

Mal didn’t really hold grudges. She didn’t actively seek out Uma; the sea witchling started any violence between them. When Jay stole something from her, Mal would sock him in the jaw, and that was that. She usually let him keep what he’d stolen, too. It was predictable: almost comforting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Hanging : Heel  
> (I'm excited for those two)


	8. Hanging : Heel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these two way too much.

Jay is missing three days before they find him, hanging from his wrists in a dockhouse, lips blue, not breathing: suspension by the arms having strained his lungs. They cut him down, smuggle him to safety, bandage his wounds. Wait for the barrier to catapult his soul back to them.

:::

Evie isn’t smiling: that would cause wrinkles. But the corners of her pouted lips are upturned and she feels good. There’s a rusted pipe resting across her shoulders, wrists hanging over it casually. She grinds the heel of her stiletto further into the neck of the man on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up-- Ink : Incongruent


	9. Ink : Incongruent

Mal did all their tattoos with a sharpened bone needle and scavenged pigment from pen cartridges. They were administered with incredible care and possessive intent, but her crew didn’t mind. They knew who they belonged to: wouldn’t fight it if they could. Ink marked them as family to be protected.

:::

Evie’s forbidden from “smart words” like “incongruent,” but it fits: Carlos will take two boys twice his size, but pale at the word “dog.” Jay barks in his ear; snarls at others who try. Mal rolls her eyes at the weakness; glares at Cruella when they meet. Cruelty; kindness; incongruent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incongruent IS in fact a word, right? Because spell check is convinced otherwise.
> 
> Next up-- Jaded : Jerk


	10. Jaded : Jerk

The villains are jaded. They drink their sorrows and grow lazy bemoaning the evil old days. Their children don’t have time for such petty complaints. They’re too busy fighting - killing - surviving to be bored. The adults don’t see the army growing under their noses. They don’t see the revolution brewing. 

:::

Jay makes a comical barking sound in Carlos’s ear. The younger boy shoves him away with a squeal of “You jerk!” This time Jay barks out a laugh because, yeah, Carlos is still a kid, but this is the Isle and he’s gonna have to step up his insult game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up~ Kid : Kisses


	11. Kid : Kisses

She’s not an adult by Auradon law, but Mal knows the Isle recognizes her as a kid no longer. The transition comes differently for everyone. Jay left behind child status last month. Stole something from someone important. Mal’s just made her first real kill. Her age won’t protect her anymore.

  
:::

Evie presses her lips to crescent moon cuts and cigarette burn marks on Carlos’s arms. To Jay’s bloody and swollen knuckles. To bracelets of iron blisters on Mal’s wrists. Where Mal’s kisses were possessive -- claiming -- Evie’s were gentle -- almost motherly. “I’ll take care of you,” they said. “Rest, for now.”


	12. Lingua Franca : Loyal

Mal likes speaking Gaelic: it’s the language of her ancestors. She enjoys trading excessively creative German insults with Evie. Arabic is beautiful spoken and even more so written. She knows French. She refuses to speak it whenever possible. It is the lingua franca of Auradon and just as pompous sounding.

:::

“Only sidekicks are loyal,” Cruella cooed, petting Carlos’s hair. Her hand curled tightly and she shook him, hissing, “My legacy will not be a sidekick.” He whimpered out a “Yes ma’am” and waited to be thrown. He picked himself up and ran to his gang. Loyal was safer than mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, multilingual VKs make me so happy
> 
> Next up~ Magic : Marks


	13. Magic : Marks

There was Magic on the Isle, just beyond reach. Where She couldn’t come out in spells and transformations, She proved herself in claw - like nails, fantastically colored hair, eyes that glowed. Magic reached to act and was denied. She collected and shone where Her favored gathered and waited for freedom.

:::

Mal was born with the twisted dragon sign of the wild fae on the back of one shoulder, and on the other she carried a simple black tattoo that read “oiko.” She was proud of both symbols. One of her heritage, one of her present and the future she forged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The oiko thing will be explained, I promise. I


	14. Name : Narcissism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, these were the first ones I didn't have written weeks in advance. I sorta just whipped these out. Not sure how good they are, so you'll have to let me know.

Her crew watches as Mal is yet again denied her birthright: the name that will make her more than a disappointment to her mother. She doesn’t face them immediately. Jay steps forward. Slings an arm around her. Says “We’ll just make Mal a name to fear then.” The others nod.

:::

Narcissism was widely considered attractive on the Isle, so long as it wasn’t over done. Then it was a liability. A weakness begging to be exploited. The Isle respected strength. Resilience. Power. If that came in the form of conceit, vanity, selfishness, even better. Villainy was the goal, after all.


	15. Obstacles : Oikogéneia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's that explanation for Mal's "oiko" tattoo I promised

Carlos saw a faded motivational poster from Auradon about obstacles being opportunities in disguise, once. Now, he uses the high ground of a crumbling wall he can’t climb higher to gain the upperhand in a fight. He smiles when he wins: those Auradonians might be onto something. Who woulda thought?

:::

Mal froze when Carlos said it. She knew what “oikogéneia” meant. The Isle’s three resident Greeks rarely socialized with anyone else: how Carlos had learnt was a mystery… he had just called their crew family. She should tell him to shut up. Jay shortens it to oiko and it sticks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Plastic : Power


	16. Plastic : Powerful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning, Jafar is a seriously sick dude.

Her mother made her into plastic: Pretty. Poised. Perfect. She had a plastic smile and plastic manners and moved with plastic care. But the Isle didn’t let perfect plastic princesses stay. It lit fires to melt and mold them into warriors. Plastic did not move with fighting grace. Evie did.

:::

Evie had her face buried in Jay’s neck, hidden in his hair, breathing in his scent. Jafar did something similar sometimes. This was not the same. With his father he was small and helpless and scared. Now, he was angry and powerful and whoever hurt her was going to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read Some Sign of Life by alloftheships recently (go read it if you haven't it's freaking amazing) and Jafar being sexually abusive was part of that story and it hadn't occurred to me that Jafar was the type but the more I thought about it the more it made sense so now it is firmly planted in my head and won't leave. Sorry. 
> 
> Next up~ Quake : Queen


	17. Quake : Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, REALLY IMPORTANT: if you're the type of person to put the capped end of a water bottle in your mouth while it's capped, YOU NEED TO STOP!! My cousin was in the hospital over the weekend because he put a capped water bottle in his mouth and squeezed and the cap SHOT OFF and ended up lodged between his throat and his lung. He had to have emergency surgery to have it removed because he was in a lot of pain if it had shifted or lodged any differently he could easily have sustained lung damage or even suffocated. Please, people, don't do dangerous stuff when there is nothing to gain from it. 
> 
> I treasure each and every one of you ALIVE

Carlos is covered in burns; Jay constantly looks over his shoulder; Evie eyes the food carts in the market with terrifying intensity but doesn’t eat. Mal is only eight. She can’t do anything to fix her crew. But she’ll grow stronger. And when she strikes, the Isle itself will quake.

:::

Mal was the queen. That was a fact. She ascended to the height of Isle hierarchy by blood and broken bones and loyal allies. Allies who needed her in power. Allies she protected, and who protected her. Mal’s kingdom was built on that: loyalty forged in the fires of Tartarus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up~ Required : Rest


	18. Required : Rest

Mal’s crew knew what she required of them: loyalty, and the ability to be best in their field. She didn’t expect Evie to steal or Carlos to seduce or Jay to plan. She expected them to think things through, follow her lead, look after each other. She required they survive.

:::

Mal should tell him to get off of her. To suck it up and move on. He was fine. But there was no one to see Carlos’s head lolling on her shoulder, or the dark bruises over his cheek from a hit he’d taken for her. Mal let him rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up~ Selfish : Shirt


	19. Selfish : Shirt

“It’s ok, Carlos.” His shuddering breaths hit their linked hands in the diamond between touching knees. Closer than they should without violence. Mal doesn’t care about his scared eyes. But they make something in her stomach shrivel unpleasantly, so doing anything to get rid of that fear is perfectly selfish.

:::

It was too big on her. She shouldn’t be wearing it. Jay had the fewest clothes of all of them. But changing would put stress on her ribs -- not broken but feeling like it. So Evie feigned sleep in a too - large shirt as a hand carded through her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up~ Trust : Tucked


	20. Trust : Tucked

Trust did not exist on the Isle. Plans would fail. Food barges were late. Allies waited for the opportunity to stab each other in the back. Trust didn’t exist. Carlos was brilliant. Evie’s timing was impeccable. Jay guarded her back like it was his own. Mal didn’t trust. Mal knew.

:::

Everything hurt, and Mal was past the point of pretending otherwise. She curled up on whichever bed Jay had settled her body on and pretended she was still asleep, lying to convince herself Evie’s quiet humming wasn’t a comfort, forgetting to protest when Carlos tucked a blanket around her shoulders.


	21. Unwise : Useful

Mal’s heard that wisdom is a virtue. She decides this is a fool’s argument. Villains are to scorn virtues and embrace vices, but wisdom is understanding the best way to get what you want, and what you need. An unwise villain is a defeated villain. Mal refuses to be defeated.

:::

Carlos is jabbering on about something smart. Mal doesn’t understand a word he’s saying. She does understand the grin on his lips, the light in his eyes. He pauses to draw breath, realizes his enthusiasm, and seems to dim. Mal shrugs. “Sounds useful.” She watches him come to life again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its official guys! As of Saturday, I have all of these written!!! I'm very proud of myself.
> 
> Next up~ Vicious : Vein


	22. Vicious :Veins

Carlos wasn’t used to being scary; he was used to being scared. But the toughest gang on the Isle had pulled him into their inner circle. With a seductress at his shoulder, a thief behind him, and a dragon flashing a grin of pointed teeth and payback, Carlos felt vicious. 

:::

Jay frantically clasps his fingers over Mal’s throat. Over severed veins and arteries and too much blood. He knows it won’t do enough. His (not sister, not lover, more than a leader) Mal is bleeding out on cold cracked pavement. The light fades from her green eyes. Jay doesn’t cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up~ Warpaint : Wraps


	23. Warpaint : Wraps

Her mother made her into a painted doll, but Mal saw something different. She saw lips red with enemy blood. She saw delicacy as an illusion, beauty as a diversion. Mal turned seductive into seduction: it was an art and a weapon. With Mal, Evie wore not makeup, but warpaint. 

:::

There’s strips of cloth fastening scraps of leather to the bottoms of their feet where the soles of their shoes have worn through. Bloody bandages tied over their raw, split knuckles. Jay tries to joke with Mal, saying these wraps are the only thing keeping them together. Mal smiles emptily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up~ Xiongnu : Xylem
> 
> I want to start leaving quotes at the end of all my chapters because I have a whole collection that NEED to be shared. You're welcome ;)
> 
> “I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.”  
> ~Firefly


	24. Xiongnu : Xylem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys! Only two more sets to go!

Shan Yu’s daughter liked to tell stories of her ancestors and the battles they won. She recited them like history but Mal listened nonetheless. The Xiongnu had been militant, and though they were defeated, their tactics weren’t without value. So Mal listened, and learned of war, and planned her victory. 

:::

Fresh water was hard to come by on an island where even the rain came soured, but the Lost were scavengers before all else. Once fresh produce could be crushed by mortar and pestle, breaking xylem and releasing enough water to stave off terminal dehydration, if not the unpleasant symptoms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Education is mostly about institutions and getting tickets stamped; learning is what we do for ourselves. When we’re lucky, they go hand in hand. If I had to choose, I’d take learning.”  
> ~How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Tomas C. Foster
> 
> Guys. Help. I have a story that I am working on that will go into my In the Dark of the Night collection called Tin Cup. I'm looking for someone to beta read it for me because I think that is a good habit to get into. Problem: it's expanding on my opinion of Jafar's disgusting relationship with his son and how Mal finds out and blah blah blah. So... on the darker and grosser and not-ok-er side of the fandom, and I'm scared and kinda embarrassed to directly ask any individual if they would be cool with reading about sexual abuse, so I'm asking you guys if anyone would be interested. Because this is the general audience I would be writing to anyway. And if you are interested and are on ff.net and would prefer to communicate via pm and docx I am over there as well under the same name.
> 
> Ok I'm done now. 
> 
> Next up~ Yelp : Youngest


	25. Yelp : Youngest

She had ignored him until then, so Carlos didn’t expect his mother to suddenly yank on his hair and he couldn’t hold back a yelp. Her face lit with terrible manic glee and he knew he must have sounded like one of her escaped dalmatians. Carlos’s stomach fell in fear.

:::

They don’t acknowledge Carlos as youngest -- not really -- just like they don’t acknowledge Jay as eldest. But they let him sit closer to each of them than anyone else and he finally started growing but he’s still smaller than even Mal. But that’s fine. Because he is needed, and protected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “A certain kind of mother is the same in any language.”  
>  ~The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
> 
> (only one more to go you guys!)
> 
> Next up~ Za'atar Manaqish : Zippers


	26. Za'atar Manaqish : Zippers

It’s a good day. No drizzle or fresh bruises, and the four of them easily stole za’atar manaqish from the market. Jafar complains that it tastes like dirt compared to what was sold at real bazaars in his homeland, but it beat rotten fruit, so Jay just grins and feasts.

:::

They have to find extra zippers for all the pockets Evie sews into Jay’s clothing. More places to hide trinkets means more trinkets stay stolen means Jafar is happy means Jay isn’t beaten means Jay performs better on jobs. So there’s no choice: they find extra zippers. For the jobs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I feel like I should mention that I did not intend for the last two to be Jay-centric and would have preferred for them to be about all four, but that didn't happen. Oops.)
> 
> That's it guys! We did it! Thank you so much for sticking with me for 13 weeks, 26 chapters, 52 mini sagas. You are awesome. 
> 
> Special thanks to Cynder2013 who helped me out way back with thinking up words for letters I didn't have completed yet. You are a lifesaver! And to karaidemon who left so many thoughtful comments. You made my day every time!
> 
> Keep an eye out for my next project, it's a PJO oneshot called Nightmares and Charmspeak and will be up in two weeks. I'm pretty sure my next Descendants thing will be up two weeks after that. 
> 
> You are lovely and I love you! 
> 
> (if you haven't read the book the below quote is from, do it. It's so freaking good and more people need to understand that our modern retellings have cheated us out of an awesome, terrifying, powerhouse of a female villain. i beg of you.)
> 
> “Long life to you and happiness… Here’s fortune’s best and confusion to all your enemies.”  
> ~Robin Hood by Paul Creswick


End file.
